


When Two Worlds Collide

by WaveMoonstone



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Parallel Universes, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:28:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26455663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaveMoonstone/pseuds/WaveMoonstone
Summary: Cloud suddenly finds himself in a strange world, where Sephiroth is the 'good guy' who killed Cloud in order to stop meteor and save the planet. Cloud is resentful of the friends he has lost, and the people of this planet are just as resentful of Cloud. Hopefully Cloud can learn to let down his barriers and embrace his new reality. After all, the planet needs the love of the two saviors to heal from the Jenova calamity.
Relationships: Sephiroth/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Aerith Gainsborough
Comments: 14
Kudos: 102





	1. Chapter 1

Cloud hissed as sharp barbs dug in a took what felt like a chunk out of his back. Pain blossomed up and down his spine, he was getting dizzy from all the blood loss. 

Here he was, driving around the desolate sands of the Wastelands, killing monsters. Not even because he needed to but because he had nothing else to live for. Nothing else spiked his adrenaline, made him feel accomplished; this made him feel alive. 

He had really taken a beating this time, traveling the wastes. Tifa always told him he should be more careful, but his luck had never seemed to run out. Until now.

Suddenly a vision of the silver menace, Sephiroth, made a way into his mind- always with a look of violent desire aimed dangerously at Cloud.

Sephiroth smiled at him tauntingly,

_You really messed up this time, Cloud_

Pushing through the pain, Cloud let out a cry and flew towards the terrifying giant scorpion, it was nearly as large as an house.

Nimbly dodging two pairs of pinching claws Cloud ran up the gargantuan segmented body of the insectoid to thrust the body of the bustier sword into the back of the things head, making a deep cleave into the carapace.

The creature let out a deafening shriek, making Clouds ears deafen as he was suddenly holding onto the bustiers handle for dear life, the insectoid bucking around violently.

Cloud felt a burning at the base of his spine, toxic fluids spurting out of the scorpions stinger sprayed him and the open wound at his back.

With one last violent twitch the spasms stopped and the insect stilled, finally dead. 

Cloud hefted his sword out of the things back, feeling woozy. He was bad in it, using as a prop to keep himself upright. 

He didn’t think he’d left his motorbike that far from here but it took his entire concentration to keep his feet moving. 

_Give up Cloud._

The last thing he heard was the generals velvety voice before his vision went black. The blonde collapsed into the sands of the wasteland. 

He heard giggling. It reminded him of Aerith. Whenever he was on the brink of death, he felt her presence, whether that was a hallucination or not was impossible to say.

It was just another reason he didn’t shy away from monster hunting. Some days he was tempted… To die and rejoin Aerith and Zack.

But he had obligations. To Tifa, the members of Avalanche, Marlene who loved Uncle Cloud only second to Barrett. 

_Cloud_

Aeriths soft voice reverberated in his head, drawing his attention. Colors in his minds eye seemed to grow brighter and bloom like the flowers Aerith had so carefully nurtured. 

_You shouldn’t want so bad to be dead, and it just so happens that you’re needed elsewhere you silly goose,_ Aeriths laughter sounded like music.  
_Don’t worry, we love you and we’ll be there for you always. So will the planet. The planet is just trying it’s best to heal._

Cloud felt like a great fog was obscuring his mind, making him incapable of thought or reason, he heard the words and the tone of his friends voice but did not their understand the meaning. 

_We’ll miss you Spike. But there’s someone else who needs you more right now,_ a masculine voice reverberated.

-

When Cloud awoke his head was pounding. He gingerly stood, his body was still torn up and bruised from his last battle with the scorpion. 

His mana was almost all but tapped but he had just enough for a single cure. 

A great wave of disorientation came over him as he tried to reason out where he was. It appeared to be near the outside of the new city of Edge, nowhere near where he had been battling the scorpion. 

Cloud thought it was strange but could not think too hard on it with his throbbing head and beaten body. 

He did not see his motorbike, he swore. It would not have been the first time it had been swiped by thieves or miscreants while he was fighting.

He took his time hobbling through the city, finally letting himself breathe easy when he came to a cosy looking building with a neon sign reading “7th Heaven.”

There was some sort of cathartic calmness that Tifas presence brought him, in a smaller but similar way he had felt around Aerith. The mental peace of knowing that person has your back no matter what shit is going down.

He trudged inside, it was around lunch meaning the bar was mostly empty, only a couple of early starters sharing beers over greasy bar food.

Cloud let himself behind the counter to pour himself a drink, he needed something strong. His hands were shaking as he grabbed a bottle of Chocobo’s Kick and poured himself an inch into a shot glass. 

The blonde slammed it, wincing as the sudden movement reawakened the painful pounding inside his head. The bitter taste of the liquor scalded his throat making his tongue tingle. 

Just then the door to the bar flew open, from what Cloud could see it was bags of groceries and liquor for the bar with Tifa buried somewhere underneath them.

Cloud almost groaned… he loved Tifa but he knew there was a lecture or two coming. About not taking any unnecessary risks now that he had a family who cared about him, how scared Marlene was for him. 

Cloud rubbed his forehead and poured himself another drink when Tifa noticed him standing at the bar.

To his surprise she dropped all the heavy bags of groceries, bottles of liquor shattered and rolled away slowly followed by a head of lettuce which escaped from the ripped paper bag. 

“You!” 

There was fire in Tifas eyes, by the goddess Cloud had ever never seen her so angry. Tifa was full of unbridled passion but he couldn’t have imagined this type of response from her. 

“You’re supposed to be dead!” she yelled again, “…Cloud Strife!”

Cloud quickly ducked behind the counter as the shelves of liquor behind the bar froze solid and the glass shattered everywhere.

“Tifa!” the ex-soldier responded in alarm, rolling out from behind the bar only to be dodging the quick succession of attacks Tifa was throwing his way. 

“This is for Barret!” Tifa hollered, somersaulting towards Cloud, who in term nimbly dodged the kicks from those powerful legs. 

Tifa in the meanwhile was throwing chairs and flying over tables to get a hit on him. 

It lit up a red flag in Clouds mind. What had happened? He couldn’t have done something to hurt Tifa this much…. Did she really think he was dead? And why?

Cloud eventually couldn’t take much more. There was nowhere left to run, just about all the furniture on the interior was smashed up, but luckily the ex-soldier did have a binding materia up his sleeve… 

The sleep spell hit Tifa full force, although she tried to resist, eventually she collapsed limply in a wreck of wood planks that previously made up the bar counter. 

The fact that Tifa went full peddle to the metal to fight him made Cloud extremely bewildered. He wasn’t sure where he was supposed to do from here, he certaintly did not want to be around again when Tifa awoke.

He walked upstairs hoping Marlene had some insight. Cloud just hoped he and Tifa hadn’t scared the poor girl too much or anything.

He heard a creak of the flooring but stopped when he noticed the door to his room in the bar had been left open. Pretty unusual.

He didn’t know what it was but there was something drawing him there, an invisible tether. He opened the door and the first thing he noticed everything was a little off. 

The color of the bedsheets were not the usual grey he kept and things smelled a little different. 

He grabbed a picture frame on top of the dresser, there were a couple and he did not keep many pictures so they seemed like a good enough place to start. 

Furthermore, the faces inside the pictures made him ran cold.

A serious-looking Tifa and Aerith in the photo unawares of Zack Fair hiding behind the two making a silly face. He was sure those three had never met… Right?

The next photo was a cute photo of Aerith and Marlene holding hands as they waved to the camera. That one he surely had no explanation for.

Cloud screamed in pain and grabbed his head as a splitting pressure in his temples pounded on the insides of his skull like a drum.  
Cloud could only vaguely register loud footsteps running up the stairs and stopping in the doorway.

It was Zackary Fair in all his glory, down to the ridiculous bustier sword strapped to his back. The spikey black hair and glowing blue eyes were unmistakable. 

His normally joyful disposition was soiled by the large scowl he wore staring intensely at Cloud.

“Cloud… did you come here to mock us?”

Cloud couldn’t answer between the unnatural pounding in his head and speechless-ness at seeing his dead best friend in the flesh.

“It doesn’t matter… We’ll defeat you again, Cloud,” Zack finished coldly.

Cloud his soul shrivel a little receiving such a strong look of hatred from his friend. This must just be one of his nightmares… Right?

Zack lunged at him, fists prepared. Cloud decided he wasn’t going to stick around and fight.

The blonde lunged away and made a quick jump through the small window in the corner of the room. He ran as fast as he could and thankfully, Zack did not seem to be in pursuit. 

-

It was the first time in a while that he felt truly alone. He just found his best friends alive, Zack, presumably Aerith, and they hated him. They absolutely hated his guts. 

This Edge seemed familiar to the Edge he knew, but then again would he really be able to tell? What had changed? Cloud just could not wrap his mind around it. 

Cloud was not running away, he was just running to anywhere. While he aimlessly wandered the busy city, he found himself pausing in an alley. Night was coming in fast and the streetlights turned back on. 

A crumpled sign a little faded caught his eye and Cloud froze. Was this for real?

In the orange glow of the streetlamp he could read,

Help us Rebuild and Heal from the Tragedy of Midgard, Together we can make Edge Our City! Join Shinra today!

In the middle of the page wrapped inside the slogan was a picture of Sephiroth, looking glorious in a very formal suit that an important businessman might wear. At the bottom of the page was the classic Shinra Electric-Power Company logo.

Clouds mind was racing a mile a minute. Did this mean that Sephiroth was still alive too? Shinra as an official corporation died along with Midgar… apparently not. 

Cloud was disturbed to say the least. Something must have happened after he passed out… If only he could remember. This surely was not his world, his Zack and his Aerith were dead. His Sephiroth was dead… or at least only lived on inside the trauma of flashbacks that sometimes took over Cloud’s mind. 

All Sephiroth’s hatred and obsession for Cloud, when they were fighting it was like the General was toying with the blonde, flirting almost in a sick way. He had put all that behind him.

Until now, for some reason by fate, by the Goddess, he was dragged back to a world where his friends hated him, the corporation that almost killed the planet was back, and his mortal enemy Sephiroth was alive again. 

Like some sort of twisted joke Cloud was once again drawn back into the fight.


	2. Chapter 2

Zack tried to be positive, but it was oh so hard.

To his friends he was lovingly, the puppy, but he felt more and more jaded, unable to go back to his carefree, old self. 

Confronting Cloud Strife coming around to taunt them in their home, drinking at their bar, with Marlene so close. Zack shuddered.

He had not known the little girl for very long but would do anything for her. When Barret passed in one of the many fights against the Jenova-warped blonde, Zack had become the closest to a father figure Marlene had in his life. 

Still… it was weird. He had every reason to fear the worst when Marlene called his cellphone terrified, hiding upstairs in the bar saying to come quicky, Tifa was fighting a soldier in the bar. 

Thank the Goddess he had been so close. Seeing Tifas body lay in the ruins of the bar had enraged him, he assumed the worst thinking her dead seeing her pale body crumpled on the floor like that. 

Once he calmed down he admitted he was certainly confused although no less angry at the menace that was Cloud Strife. Who had already been killed once already by Sephiroth in addition. 

And his eyes. Last time Zack noticing the bright unnatural blue in the blondes eyes. This time was different. Even enough for a kid like Marlene to notice.

The mako-green glow overpowered the normal blue, just like a soldiers. But Cloud was never got to the rank of soldier… 

Seeing the former cadet stand there, looking through their photographs, callously rooting through their memories, his friends the blonde himself had tried so hard to kill made Zack sick to his stomach.

He had never known the blonde to flee from the fight, Jenova gave the blond a cocky air of righteousness, of superiority, no surprise with the blonde goal of killing the entire planet to obtain godhood, to be closer with the silver entity, his “mother.” 

Cloud Strife would be brought to justice. It was just a matter of time. 

\--

_Sir, there is something you need to see, I have sent a secure link to your inbox._

Sephiroth heard the leader of the Turks, Tsengs chronically calm and collected voice warble out from the speaker of his cellphone.

Cloud Stife has been sighted again, General. He is most likely still in Edge. We have footage of him attacking Avalanche’s hideout.

The silver-head took a deep breath in and slowly exhaled, massaging his temples. Cloud Strife would be the death of him. 

The general had already defeated him once, when he was on a warpath of destruction with Jenova’s alien influence. Strife had single handedly played an enormous role in the destruction of Midgar and killing thousands. Oh how things change.

A burst of shame clung inside Sephiroth’s chest. Jenova’s Cloud was nothing like the Cloud he remembered. Seeing the blondes embarrassed and shy smiles, the way he laughed when Sephiroth was teasing him, it was exhilarating. 

Not even Zack Fair knew about the Generals and Cadets Strife’s quick tryst shortly before the mission to the Nibelheim reactor.

The overwhelming humiliation and guilt and it felt too personal when Jenova somehow made a puppet out of the cadet known as Cloud Strife. That he should have seen the madness hidden somewhere deep within the quiet blonde cadet he hooked up with and should have stopped Strife from ever going on the mission to Nibelheim.

Sephiroth braced himself, loading the file.

The man captured on video sported the likeness of blonde hair sticking upwards defiantly. It was Strife for certain. 

The silver-heads adrenaline was pumping and his mind emptied instinctively, like he was on the verge of a fight. He had to replay the video several times before he could concentrate enough on the details. 

Like the strange outfit Strife was wearing. Strife always seemed to favor his same old cadet getup, Sephiroth always assumed it was a taunt towards him personally. A Shinra grunt deemed unworthy for soldier yet powerful enough to destroy a whole city and almost the entire company along with it. 

Not to mention. The sword on Strife’s back looked awfully similar to the buster sword even in the grainy footage of the security camera.

Sephiroth glared at the contact information for Zackary Fair entered in his phs. 

He was officially not supposed to be in contact with a Shinra deserter and terrorist with connections to Avalanche, which Zackary Fair technically was. But Sephiroth was not about to let Shinra, a company who destroyed his childhood and was only just reformed after the destruction mining mako had caused the planet, get in between his friendship with Zack. 

Sephiroth rang Zack's phs, it went straight to voicemail. 

\--

Cloud decided to lay low for now. His hideout was a room in a sleezy Inn frequented by ugly prostitutes and gangbangers, somewhere in the maze of slums on the outskirts of the city. 

Cloud was lucky enough they left him alone for the most part, if the mako eyes didn’t scare them away the blond’s angry demeanor did. 

After racking his brain, the best he could come up with is brief conversations Aerith had mentioned to him, about alternative timelines, and infinite amount of universes all connected. 

He could not figure out why or how but something had transported Cloud, from his world, to this one. 

Doing his best to ignore the emotional part of him, Cloud decided that logically the first thing to do would be to figure out what had happened in this timeline that Zack and Aerith were alive. And why they seemed to hate him. Not to mention Tifa seemed to believe that he was dead.

The blonde racked his thoughts… the best Cloud could come up with was the one thing that seemed constant. 

Seeing as Shinra was just as a big corporate giant as it was in his world, Cloud could count on the electric company having detailed records, especially concerning his and Zacks military record, and obviously Sephiroth.

If he knew those basic things he could have a better understanding of this world. And most importantly, how to get back to his own world, where his friends didn’t hate him. 

\--

The general was on edge ever since news of Cloud- no, Strife reached him. 

When Sephiroth was alerted by Tseng that there was a break in in progress on the levels of the new Shinra Research and Development Department. 

The general went personally, which was normally something he would not be bothered with, pawning it off to some military grunts.  
Call it a hunch, or maybe he just wanted an enemy to fight since hearing about Strife. 

It turns out the silver-haired general had a good third eye because when the elevator doors glided open, making his way past dozens of unconscious security officers and a dazed turk he did not recognize, he could make out a tuft of blonde hair sticking out from behind a computer terminal. 

The blonde stared deeply frowning at the computer screen, absolutely in a trance, he had not even noticed Sephiroth enter the room which was unusual.

Sephiroth remembered watching Strife cry out, gurgling in his lungs as blood rushed out the hole masamune had pierced in his chest. He watched Strife die, choking to death on his own blood. Yet here the blonde was, somehow alive and well.

Sephiroth breathed in and out slowly, unsheathing masamune. He wondered how many more times they would go through this song and dance.

Only the slick shink of the well-oiled steel gliding out from the scabbard did Cloud take notice of him. 

The Strife he knew rarely if at all betrayed any emotion. Yet he was staring into Strife’s face, the blonde paling in disbelief to the intense anger furrowing his brow and growing scowl. Sephiroth found it disturbing yet exhilarating.

The blonde only put a hand on the handle of the buster sword as a threat

“Back off,” 

Strife said angrily, grabbing a bunch of loose papers and stuffing them roughly into a small brown messenger bag. 

Sephiroth was not entirely sure what Jenova was up to, but it must involve Shinra somehow. 

“You will face justice for your crimes, Strife,” was the only thing Sephiroth could muster, stepping forward.

“Those are pretty words coming from a Shinra lapdog,” 

Cloud couldn’t help but let out a laugh. If this Sephiroth wanted a fight, he would get one.

The blonde pulled the bustier sword with lightning speed and flew towards the general. 

Sephiroth could not help but notice, Strife fought much differently than before. More calculated for sure, less speed and more brute strength expertly wielding the hunk of steel that was the buster sword.

For the first time, Sephiroth felt a burn in his arms just deflecting Clouds harsh attacks. 

Cloud pulled back leaving the two to circle each other menacingly.

“I’m warning you, I killed you once Sephiroth. I’ll do it again,” 

The hatred in those green-tinged blue eyes glowing at him was scalding. Sephiroth did not betray his emotions, although confused by Strife’s statement.

Just as the general mentally readied himself to attack, a large explosion on the floor lifting dust obscuring Strife. Sephiroth cursed.

“Where is he!” Zack shouted, jumping through the newly made hole in the wall.

Sephiroth could pick up the sound of glass breaking and looked just in time to see a human sized flash jump through the 14th story window. 

The general walked over and looked down but, as he expected, he didn’t see anything. Strife had disappeared just as quickly as he came. 

Sephiroth looked over to the rest of the extremely ragtag group of terrorists known as Avalanche Zack had deserted Shinra for.

“We need to talk about Strife.”

\--

Zack found himself sitting next to the general at one of the folding chairs the gang could find for 7th heaven in quick notice. 

The debris from the fight at Seventh Heaven had been cleared but all that had been left of the original furniture was a single barstool, currently occupied by a skeptical looking Tifa. 

He considered Sephiroth his friend but ever since he defected… well of course their relationship was a little strained. 

Zack defected after he found out that Shinra dropped the plate on an entire sector killing hundreds of thousands of people, not to mention the things he never realized about Shinra’s mako drilling slowly draining the life out of the planet. 

The companies actions had been unacceptable. Zack knew he was complicit in some ways because of his years in soldier, although Aerith always reminded him that he couldn’t change the past only help shape the future. 

Zack realized why Sephiroth felt tied to Shinra but didn’t necessarily agree with him staying. 

After Cloud murdered old man Shinra, Rufus with the help of Reeve and Sephiroth were trying hard to turn the company into something… less despicable. 

First order of things was to stop mining Mako. A terribly unpopular thing honestly as without mako, the first months many of the citizens of Edge did not have working stoves or heaters. 

If you have most people a choice over having heat through the winter or something about helping the planet you know what they would choose. Ironically the Shinra corporation was never more unpopular despite their newfound sense of “corporate responsibility,” as Reeves would put it. 

Second, no more soldiers. After the terrible side-effects of mako exposure and highly questionable ethics of human experimentation. Not to mention. An electric company should not need highly advanced super soldiers.

Third, many shady research projects the company dabbled in, including large weapons and human experimentation were banned.

Hojo was locked up somewhere he would never see the light of day, Zack knew that Sephiroth had personally seen to that. 

This freed up Shinra's large R & D department to be focused on where it should be, environmentally friendly power production. 

There was also the argument that with the power vacuum a disbanded Shinra would leave behind, it is likely something just as equally corrupt would come into power to replace it.

If Sephiroth could keep a tight leash on Rufus and make sure Shinra is headed in a good direction, Zack figured they might be able to turn that boat around. 

Even if the rest of Avalanche didn’t, Zack trusted the general. 

\--

Zack wrapped his arm around Aeriths waist pulling her closer to him. The brunette smiled at him lovingly with that familiar twinkle in her eyes. 

The rest of the members had gathered to hear what Sephiroth had to say regarding their problem, the problem of Jenova and Strife threatening the planet.

Sephiroth started by rehashing the meat and bones of their “Strife problem.”

It all started at the Nibelheim reactor, when Sephiroth found Zack gravely injured and cadet Cloud Strife mad from Jenova’s influence, somehow making contact with the entity Shinra had trapped inside the mako reactor. 

The blonde escaped before the general could defeat him and burned down his hometown of Nibelheim. But that was only the beginning. 

Strife came back to Shinra to steal back Jenovas corpse from Hojo and killing President Shinra in the process. 

Strife stole the black materia from the temple of the Ancients and unleashed meteor at the planet, hoping to wound the planet so badly that in order to heal itself, the lifestream would flow from the promised land, and Strife, Jenova along with him, would be able to harness that raw power to become a god.

Sephiroth, along with all the resources that come with being a Shinra General, had worked together with Avalanche for a small time in order to stop meteor and Strife. They were only partially successful, meteor was stopped but not before the entirety of Midgar was destroyed. 

Zack and the rest of Avalanche watched as Sephiroth faced off against a mutated Strife finally gaining enough of an upper hand to spear the blonde through the chest with masamune. 

And then it was over. Survivors took what they could from the ruin of Midgar and the city of Edge was created. It was finally over.  
Or so they thought. 

\--

_At this point I believe it would be in our best interests to focus on capturing Strife alive. He already has cheated death once, assuming that’s from Jenovas influence, if we just kill him again we don’t know if he will stay dead. We need to capture him, lock him up somewhere that he cannot escape and keep killing._

Sephiroth sighed in frustration. Avalanches response was… not popular to say the least. After Sephiroth had said his spiel, the entire bar erupted with chaotic shouting,

“Goddamnit, I won’t let that lil’ blonde bastard take ‘nother chunk out of MY planet! He’s killed even ‘ore than you, ‘General,’”

“I can’t sleep safely knowing Strife is still alive, we just need to kill him again, maybe the second time is the charm,”

“Leave it to Shinra to fail at the only good ‘deed’ they’ve ever done… The silver demon sure never botched jobs like this in Wutai!”

The motley crew whom Sephiroth had become all too familiar with over the years were all yelling over each other and looked livid. There was a cantankerous looking man covered in grease, a short Wutain girl, a fiery red looking lion, then the more familiar. 

Tifa scowling towards him, even Zack looked exceptionally tense. 

“I trust you Seph, but I don’t know if anyone would be able to detain someone like Strife realistically.”

About the only one who wasn’t incensed was the ancient girl. Aerith was sitting quietly next to Zack, she had a glazed over expression looking across the room. Sephiroth supposed even the commotion of the disorderly Avalanche crew wasn’t much of an attention-grabber when the planet was whispering secrets in her ears. 

Sephiroth asked Avalanche if they had noticed Strife seeming strange. 

The only ones to see him were Tifa, Zack, and Sephiroth. Tifa looked at Sephiroth like he was crazy when he asked. Zack agreed but seemed to dismiss it as irrelevent. Afterall Strife came back from the dead, what mattered was that he was the same danger to the people of the planet. 

Sephiroth thought long and hard about his encounter with Strife, and it was just weird. From his fighting style, to his claim that he killed Sephiroth before, to his non-violent retreat. 

Strife was certainly an enigma that Sephiroth was determined to solve.

**Author's Note:**

> Playing the remake has reawakened my love for FFVII! I always love the many creative alternative /timeline fics out there, I finally have the motivation to write the one I always imagined!


End file.
